Reference Data

Keratin polypeptides 8 and 18 (K8/18) are intermediate filament phosphoglycoproteins that are expressed preferentially in glandular epithelia. Cytokeratins play a critical role in differentiation and tissue specialization and function to maintain the overall structural integrity of epithelial cells (1-3). Together with actin microfilaments and microtubules, keratin filaments make up the cytoskeletons of vertebrate epithelial cells, forming alpha-helical coiled-coil dimers which associate laterally and end-to-end to form 10-nm diameter filaments (4).